Motorola launched its Nexus 6 at the end of 2014 with high-end hardware specifications. But there was this one feature that Motorola had to left out regrettably – the fingerprint sensor, says company’s former CEO. And it’s all Apple’s fault.
In a interview to Telegraph, Dennis Woodside – Motorola’s former CEO – says that company had plans to feature a fingerprint sensor on the back of the latest Nexus 6 device, right where there’s a dimple in the casing. While it’s now being marketed as a feature to hold the phone comfortably while on a call, but the company had plans to fit in a fingerprint sensor behind it if Apple had not acquired AuthenTec, a sensor firm, back in 2012.

Indeed, the 6-inch Nexus 6, he can now admit, was stymied by just one of those big players. A dimple on the back that helps users hold the device should, in fact, have been rather more sophisticated. “The secret behind that is that it was supposed to be fingerprint recognition, and Apple bought the best supplier. So the second best supplier was the only one available to everyone else in the industry and they weren’t there yet,” says Woodside.

After acquiring AuthenTec back in 2012, Apple also systematically prevented other manufacturers from using AuthenTec technology related to fingerprint security. Which is why many companies missed the opportunity to use the best fingerprint sensor technology into their devices, and Motorola Nexus 6 was no exception.

Apple’s own Touch ID fingerprint sensor was realized only after Apple’s AuthenTec acquisition. iPhone 5s was the first device to get AuthenTec-based Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The company is continuously working on improving the technology, and iPhone 6 and the Plus features a more sensitive version of the sensor and also has the ability to authenticate the payments made through Apple Pay mobile payments service.